CFL cancels season due to pandemic

TORONTO — CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie shoulders the blame for the Grey Cup not being handed out for the first time in more than 100 years.

The CFL cancelled its season Monday due to the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning the Grey Cup won’t be presented for the first time since 1919.

The decision comes after the CFL was unable to secure financial assistance from the federal government. The league sent Ottawa an amended request Aug. 3 for a $30-million, interestfree loan, but the sides couldn’t come to terms on a deal.

It was the CFL’s last-ditch effort to stage an abbreviated season in the hub city of Winnipeg. It came after the league asked for $44 million in July.

“I do feel I am responsible for the fact that we are not on the field this year,” Ambrosie said in a telephone interview. “But I resolve to learn from what we’ve experienced and I’m looking forward to a bright future.

“I think we’re all watching an example on the world stage today of a leader that takes no responsibility for anything … and no matter what happens, I won’t be that guy.”

The CFL had maintained it required government funding to stage a shortened season. In late April, Ambrosie told The Canadian Press the league had presented a three-tiered request for financial assistance that began with $30 million initially, more in the event of a shortened season and up to $150 million in the event of a cancelled campaign.

“I regret that … I do wish we hadn’t thrown that number [$150 million] out,” Ambrosie said. “We never asked for $150 million, at least I don’t feel we did.

“What we did was aggregate what we thought was the worstcase scenario … and we said, ‘In the end our problem could be as big as $150 million,’ but that became the number.”

Ambrosie had stated the CFL collectively lost around $20 million last season. With no football in 2020, a source familiar with the situation said the league will lose between $60 and $80 million this year.

Ambrosie said he was at a loss to explain why the CFL and government couldn’t come to a suitable financial arrangement. But two league sources said the $30-million request fell through when the assistance couldn’t be provided to the league under the terms it sought.

The sources were granted anonymity because the league and government haven’t discussed certain financial figures publicly.

Last month, the CFL ruled out a loan from the Business Development Bank of Canada because it felt the interest rate was too high.

“I think there were at least a couple of times when for really good reasons we felt like we were on track to be able to do something with the government,” Ambrosie said. “And it didn’t happen.

“I feel a sense of disappointment but not anger, just sorrow that something that I thought would come together didn’t happen.”

Another requirement for an abbreviated season was the CFL and CFL Players’ Association agreeing on an amended collective bargaining agreement. The CFL said it was close to a deal when it called off the season Monday.

That’s what made the CFL’s decision Monday so surprising to CFLPA president Solomon Elimimian.

“It’s definitely disappointing and yes, we were surprised,” said Elimimian, a Saskatchewan Roughriders linebacker. “We felt like we were making tremendous progress … things were moving in a way that led me to optimism, led all of us to optimism.

“From that aspect, when the news came it was definitely tough.”

Six of the CFL’s nine teams are privately owned by either wealthy individuals or organizations. However, none stepped up to provide the funds necessary for a shortened season.